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Quantifying the Landscape Market
By Cynthia Champney Urbano

The marketplace for nursery products and services is changing, both in nature and scope. The consumer is becoming more upscale, and the market is expanding.

Between 1980 and 1985, the number of U.S. households increased 9 percent to 87.9 million, Gary Mariani said. In 1986, "there has been a resurgence in housing, with building proceeding at its highest level in years. Financing rates are also down." The National Association of Home Builders anticipates 903,000 new home starts this year, while there will be more than 3.5 million sales of existing homes, according to the National Association of Realtors. By 1990, the number of households are expected to increase another 15 percent to 101.1 million, Mariani reports.

These facts alone paint a future of opportunity for landscapers. But they do not stand alone. A significant population change is already underway. As baby boomers come of home-buying age, the 35- to 44-year-old bracket will increase by 54 percent in the next four years, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. In 1985, 30- to 49-year-old customers emerged for the first time as the nursery industry's primary buyers, accounting for 50 percent of retail nursery sales, Mariani said.

More people means more sales. Last year, a quarter of U.S. households spent an average of $154 each for landscaping (installing plant material in original or renovated landscapes). This helped retailers ring up over $2 billion in sales.

In addition to the growing market, nurserymen can look forward to a new type of upscale consumer. Fifty-one percent of the landscape customers are male. 56 percent are 30 to 49 years old, and 46 percent are married with children. Forty-nine percent are college-educated. 51 percent hold business or professional jobs, and 56 percent earn $30,000 or more. Half live in the suburbs.

This expanding, upscale market means more business for the nursery industry. Landscaping will be a project of high priority among new homeowners, who expect to spend an average of $1,500 on it. Five percent estimate they will spend $5,000 or more.

Much of this money will be spent on do-it-yourself projects, with 82 percent of new homeowners saying they will landscape without the aid of professionals. But landscapers will have plenty to do with more than half a million owners seeking their services.

The nine most popular projects American homeowners hope to accomplish within the next five years. Almost half plan to landscape around their homes' foundations and around their patios, decks or porches. Landscaping along driveways or walks (38 percent) and adding container plantings to decks, patios and porches (35 percent) were the next most popular activities, followed by replacing existing trees or shrubs (28 percent) and renovating existing landscapes (18 percent).

Planting a hedge for privacy (16 percent) and installing an island (14 percent), as well as landscaping for energy conversation (8 percent), were the final choices.

Homeowners also named the plant materials they would like to add to their landscapes. Annuals and perennials topped the list, with 68 percent of homeowners planning to use them. Ornamental or flowering shrubs or bushes were second choice with 52 percent, while patio container specialty plants came in third with 38 percent. These were followed by ornamental or shade trees (35 percent), evergreen trees (28 percent) and fruit trees (27 percent).

"A market of strong demographic characteristics, a revitalized housing industry of both new home starts and existing home sales and a population intent upon maximizing leisure-time activities point to an opportunity of unparalleled proportion for the nursery and lawn and garden industries," according to Weyerhauser.

The company interpreted its market findings as a challenge. "It is a challenge of understanding, education and promotion. As we understand more about our customers and their beliefs on the value of landscaping, we must provide them with the products and services to meet their interests and their life-styles.

"We must approach education with a commitment and a dedication - working in a spirit of cooperation with other related industries, industry groups and associated professions, such as real estate appraisers, to provide them with the facts on the value of landscaping.

"Finally, we must promote. Competition abounds, Today's consumers are making buying decisions on the use of our products and all others on a basis of value. It is up to us to promote the value of landscaping."

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